Bingley to Skipton

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Bingley 5-rise staircase lock

Up at 8:30 and started up the Bingley 3-rise staircase flight at 9:05. Cleared the top of the 5-rise staircase at 10:20 - so that makes eight locks in 1 hour 15 minutes. We rewarded ourselves with a cooked English breakfast at the canalside cafe at the top of the flight - sitting outside in the sunshine.

The Bingley fights have taken us 90 feet up the north side of the Aire valley and the next 12 miles are a level "pound" winding through lovely, mostly open, countryside along the edge of the Dales, with moorland rising either side. Feels like we are quite high up now. The ony problem is that there are a large number of swing bridges to operate along the way - 18 in all, and most of them manual. So again I spent most of the day walking along the towpath between bridges.

Skipton is charming, and not really quite as touristy as I had feared.

Had a couple of pints sitting in the sunshine outside the Royal Shepherd Inn on Canal Street, before some of the best sausage & mash ever at the Narrow Boat pub. Trio of sausages (boar, venison and lamb), black pudding mash, red cabbage and cider gravy.

Bingley to Skipton: 13.4 miles, 8 locks (one 3-rise and one 5-rise staircase locks), 18 swing bridges